Frame upgrade ?

9 replies · 353 views

bobknh
794 posts
#1Aug 29, 2016, 7:27 AM
I have a 2016 Haanjo Comp. with upgraded tires and gearing. It is a perfectly good bike for the type of hilly dirt and gravel roads I ride in southern NH. In fact, this past weekend I cruised through the Rose Mountain Rumble in Lyndeborough NH in fine fettle. But, I'm a bike nut -- with 6 bikes of my own, and 2 of my wife's in my garage. Can't without excessive guilt, add another to my collection. Instead, I'm thinking of upgrading the most important component of my Haanjo - the frame. There are 2 frames I'm thinking of:
1. Ritchey Swiss Cross Disc.
2. Ritchey Swiss Cross - Canti.
If I go with the disc., I'll probably strip most of the components from the Haanjo for the Ritchey. This will leave me with a bare Haanjo frame to sell, donate, or trash. If I go with the Canti, I have lots of high end 130 mm wheels and tires. This will leave me with a complete Haanjo to sell, or donate. It's much easier for me to sell a complete bike-- especially a GG bike in my area.
Why Ritchey? I like steel frames. These are very good steel frames at a very reasonable price. Also, I'll admit it - I like the way they look-especially the red Canti. I'm leaning towards the Canti -- I'll probably go with Pauls Minimoto's which allow short pull road levers to work with linear pull brakes. IMHO - linear pull rim brakes have as much stopping power (larger swept area), and are much lighter and easier to service than discs.
Any suggestions or other frame sets to consider? Appreciate your thoughts.

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DrSpoke
272 posts
#2Aug 29, 2016, 11:18 AM
FYI: http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=192295
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bobknh
794 posts
#3Aug 29, 2016, 12:21 PM
DrSpoke wrote:FYI: http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=192295[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the link. Couldn't see the pic's; but the comments fall in line with my own thoughts about the Ritchie CX frames. Not quite ready to pull the trigger though. I'm still checking out the performance of my Lemond Washoe on dirt and gravel. I have a set of 28 MM Conti 4000 ii s tires that I'm going to install with Vittoria latex tubes on Ardenns + LT wheels. Several folks at the Rose Mountain Rumble were riding regular road bikes like my Lemond, with 28 mm tires and seemed to do quite well. Of course, that has a lot to do with the skill of the rider. Despite my years of riding and racing, I still consider myself a bit clumsy on the bike. I compensate by being careful, and grinding the opposition into dust on the climbs; and hoping that they can't catch me as I pick my way down the descent.

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DrSpoke
272 posts
#4Aug 29, 2016, 8:19 PM
It looked like it was set up nice though probably a slim chance it would fit you. I think you have to join to see the pics. I've done the Belgian Waffle Ride the last 2 years - 100 + mi paved + 40 + mi on dirt. I trained on the Schwalbe S-One @ 30c but rode the Pro-One @ 28c for the event. The dirt part is mostly packed singletrack and fireroads but there were a few rocky, technical sections. And a few of my friends used these also on their regular road bikes.

I've got a couple of adventure bikes - a Ridley X-Trail (Shimano 2x11 Hydro) and a Niner RLT 9 Steel (SRAM Force1 Hydro. Both are very nice in slightly different ways. That said, both are running hydraulic discs and they are pretty awesome. I know I'll never use anything else and would recommend you explore that option. It's also nice that both of those bikes along w/my mountain bike are all running 12x142 rear wheels and 15x100 in front.

I don't know much about the Washoe but have been keeping an eye out for a Poprad disc in my size.
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bobknh
794 posts
#5Sep 2, 2016, 10:28 PM
After dithering on this that and the other, I finally decided to go retro. As I type, a shiny red 57cm Ritchey Swiss Cross Canti is speeding across the country from CA to NH. Expected arrival in Greenfield NH in 5-7 days. Here are the details: http://ritcheylogic.com/swiss-cross-frameset-red-red .
Rationale:
- High quality steel frame at very reasonable price.
- I already own thousands of bucks worth of 130 mm wheels.
- I like canti's. Light weight. Easy to install and maintain. Better braking than disks in most of the conditions I ride in. Can go to mini in-lines like the Pauls Minimoto if extra braking force required.
- The Ritchey Swiss Cross a proven and well tested design.
- JOM and the FL crowd at Gravel Cyclist have proven the performance and reliability of these frames.
- Steel is real!
In truth, I also like the bright red paint.
Also on order to dress up this beauty - Ultegra 6800 46/36 Crankset and BB and Avid Shorty Ultimate brake set. For the initial build, I have almost new 10 speed Durace brifters and derailleurs, Durace carbon clincher wheels, as well as lots of bling from huge collection.
Will likely have a slightly used DB Haanjo Comp. for sale soon.
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jeffvader
8 posts
#6Sep 5, 2016, 4:37 AM
bobknh wrote:After dithering on this that and the other, I finally decided to go retro. As I type, a shiny red 57cm Ritchey Swiss Cross Canti is speeding across the country from CA to NH. Expected arrival in Greenfield NH in 5-7 days. Here are the details: http://ritcheylogic.com/swiss-cross-frameset-red-red .
Rationale:
- High quality steel frame at very reasonable price.
- I already own thousands of bucks worth of 130 mm wheels.
- I like canti's. Light weight. Easy to install and maintain. Better braking than disks in most of the conditions I ride in. Can go to mini in-lines like the Pauls Minimoto if extra braking force required.
- The Ritchey Swiss Cross a proven and well tested design.
- JOM and the FL crowd at Gravel Cyclist have proven the performance and reliability of these frames.
- Steel is real!
In truth, I also like the bright red paint.
Also on order to dress up this beauty - Ultegra 6800 46/36 Crankset and BB and Avid Shorty Ultimate brake set. For the initial build, I have almost new 10 speed Durace brifters and derailleurs, Durace carbon clincher wheels, as well as lots of bling from huge collection.
Will likely have a slightly used DB Haanjo Comp. for sale soon.
\n CX rear wheels are 135mm, not 130mm, but you can make it work on a steel frame. I do. Just keep tightening the skewers!
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bobknh
794 posts
#7Sep 5, 2016, 7:39 AMedited
jeffvader wrote: CX rear wheels are 135mm, not 130mm, but you can make it work on a steel frame. I do. Just keep tightening the skewers!

Hi Jeff - According to the spec. on Ritchies website the Canti version (which happens to be on sale) is 130mm. The disk version is 135. I have "squashed" 135 cm frames to fit 130 wheels. While it works, it makes wheel changes a PITA. I hope that there wasn't a mistake on the website's spec sheet. Some manufacturer's built 'tweener' frames - my Cannondale R1000 Tandem for example- which measured about 133 mm between the dropouts. You could either stretch the frame a scootch for a 135 wheel, or squish it a scootch for a 130. A PITA either way. Some of my wheels also have pop off end caps which allowed you to play with the actual spacing. This did require some re-engineering of the caps to make them fit; and probably not recommended by the manufacturer. BTW, if you have a frame that has to be compressed from 135 to 130, I suggest using skewers non quick release skewers that tighten with a 5 mm allen key. Much easier to do the job. These skewers are designed to thwart bike thieves who can easily steal a high end wheel when you are sipping a latte at a downtown coffee shop. For example:https://smile.amazon.com/RavX-Skewer-CroMo-Alloy-Release/dp/B0060ZC2VO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473079737&sr=8-2&keywords=non-quick+release+bike+wheel+skewers . These happen to be 135 mm -- but you can cut them down with a dremel, or find a 130 mm on the Internet.
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drwelby
531 posts
#8Sep 5, 2016, 9:53 AM
I guess it's too late, but if you want to do some bike dorking, you could put 650b wheels on the Washoe using a long reach brake like the Tektro R559. You might be able to go to a 35 tire. I had an old Trek 760 set up this way and it was a lot of fun.

Cyclocross wheel up until the disc era were always 130mm with the exception of a few weirdo frames.
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bobknh
794 posts
#9Sep 5, 2016, 1:49 PM
drwelby wrote:I guess it's too late, but if you want to do some bike dorking, you could put 650b wheels on the Washoe using a long reach brake like the Tektro R559. You might be able to go to a 35 tire. I had an old Trek 760 set up this way and it was a lot of fun.

Cyclocross wheel up until the disc era were always 130mm with the exception of a few weirdo frames.

Thanks for the suggestion. It might work - but the front and rear fork clearance on the Washoe is still very limited. Lemond claims that the Washoe can fit up to 28mm road tires, but in my case using Conti 4000 II S 28's, they rubbed slightly on front fork crown, and just barely cleared the rear chain stays in the back -- and that was inflated to only 65 PSI. Probably older bikes like your Trek 760 had more clearance on the fork crown and chain stays. Also, I'd have to buy 650B wheels to try it out. Good idea anyway. I also have an old Trek 5900 frame ( Lance's favorite bike) on which I won many local Masters races including several NY State Road championships. I even rode it one year to a Silver medal in Masters Nationals ITT, on a very hilly technical course in 7 Springs PA. It's hanging sadly in my garage, but I may resurrect it some day as an alternate GG bike using your suggestion.
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jeffvader
8 posts
#10Sep 5, 2016, 4:27 PM
drwelby wrote:I guess it's too late, but if you want to do some bike dorking, you could put 650b wheels on the Washoe using a long reach brake like the Tektro R559. You might be able to go to a 35 tire. I had an old Trek 760 set up this way and it was a lot of fun.

Cyclocross wheel up until the disc era were always 130mm with the exception of a few weirdo frames.
\nI always uses the screw on skewers as I often have problems pulling wheels, but my Singular Kite canti CX bike is 135mm spaced.
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